We helped to hang the quilts on Monday. As always, the plethora of quilts was awe-inspiring. To see photos of the top winners click here!
I usually look for one quilt where I either say “I wish I’d made that” or “wow – I could never do that”, and sometimes both. There were many that grabbed me this year, but the one that stopped me in my tracks was called Celtic Migration. Here it is from a distance and it is lovely, but wait till you see the close-up!
All of the flying geese were 1/4″ x 1/2″ and there were a lot of them!
The National Quilt Museum is always a “must do” at Quilt Week and this year was especially delightful – they had the Best of Show quilts from the last 35 years. The first time I went to Paducah was in 1989 and the winning quilt was Corona II – Solar Eclipse by Caryl Bryer Fallert. It set the quilt world on it’s ear because it was machine quilted. I was new to quilting and I LOVED it.
It’s still one of my favorite quilts!
I was thrilled to be a part of the Museum’s Oak Leaf and Reel contest this year. It’s an honor and a privilege to have a quilt hanging in the museum. My entry is entitled “Oak Leaf and Swirl”. I’ll share more about it in a future blog post.
This year’s contest contained a great collection of art quilts and they were all put into a book available at the NQM gift shop. To see the top 5 winners in the challenge click here. The artists were invited to a “Meet and Greet” on Friday and they had a very good turn out. What a talented group – I’m humbled to be a part of it.
I had a lovely surprise while walking through the opposite gallery. There was an exhibit of quilts recently acquired by the museum and as I came around a corner I exclaimed (to myself) “That’s Roberta’s peacock!”
My friend, Roberta Williams, was an extremely talented woman in so many ways. She has been gone for a number of years, and I believe this quilt was her crowning achievement. I’m so pleased that her family was able to have it selected for the museum’s collection.
One other very exciting opportunity presented itself to me at the museum. A few month’s ago Bonnie Browning, the executive show director for AQS, contacted me to ask if I’d like to be interviewed by the Tri-State Christian Television network because they were looking to do a program about Christian quilters. Praise the Lord! I was thrilled. I brought a few of my quilts and it was a delightful experience. Thanks to Amanda and Kelsie! They said they’d let me know when the program is complete and I’ll be sure to share it on my blog.
Another unique opportunity this week was to spend a little time with my friend Judy Berry. She is the travel planner who has invited me to lead a quilting tour to the International Great Quilt Festival in Tokyo, Japan, this January. She had a booth to advertise the trip and I helped out a bit.
To read all about our upcoming adventure please go to: https://www.chrisquilts.net/trips/. There were many Japanese quilts in the AQS contest and I’ll be including some of them in next week’s post.
In conclusion I need to thank my dear friend Eileen for accompanying me on this wonderful adventure. We laughed, we shopped, we studied God’s word, we took classes, we hung quilts and we rolled them up for shipping home. It was truly a joy-filled week!
As I type we’re on the way home. They got 3″ of snow back home in Wisconsin yesterday, but it’s supposed to reach 50 degrees today so we’re hoping it’s already melted.
This was my 30th year in a row to be a part of Spring Quilt Week in Paducah. I am truly blessed!!!